what got us into trouble before, hoping that doing it the same way would have a different result. there's no logical reason to believe that would be so. that's "hardball" for tonight. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" starts right now. good evening, americans and welcome to "the ed show." 14 days until the election. the debates are over and mitt romney looked like anything but a commander in chief last night. he came down with a real bad case of romnesia. although he does a good job of follow the leader. this is "the ed show." >> we had fewer ships than in 1916. we also have fewer horses and bayon ets. >> if you say that you love american cars during a debate, but you wrote an article titled "let detroit go bankrupt" you might have romnesia. e.j. dionne and karen finney on

the debates. nina turner on the latest republican effort to block the vote. and the great actor bradley winn ford is getting out the vote for the president in ohio and his native wisconsin. tonight bradley joins me live on "the ed show." good to have you with us. we have reached the end game of the presidential election. no more debates, just two campaigns pounding the pavement trying to win every last vote. there are only a few states left on the playing field. this morning president obama got a high five and a big hug from scott van, the one who bear hugged the president last month.

>> we had a severe outbreak last night. it was at least stage three romnesia. i just want to go over some of the symptoms because i want to make sure nobody in the surrounding area catches it. if you say that you love american cars during a debate but you wrote an article titled "let detroit go bankrupt", you might have romnesia. if you talk about how much you love teachers during a debate, but said just a few weeks ago that we shouldn't hire anymore because they won't grow the economy, what do you have? >> romnesia. >> the president is fired up,

but it's not all fun and games. the president and vice president told a crowd in ohio mitt romney's flip-flops are deadly serious. >> we joke about governor romney being all over the map, but it speaks to something important. it speaks of trust. there's no more serious issue in a presidential campaign than trust. trust matters. >> president obama has been raising the trust question about mitt romney in the past two debates. romney and paul ryan hit the trail in nevada to deflect the president's criticism. >> we have gone through four debates with the vice presidential debate and my debates and we haven't heard an agenda for the president and that's why his campaign is taking on water and our campaign is full speed ahead. >> romney keeps saying the president has no agenda. . he's ignoring the president's stump speech, the platform, and legislation president obama tried to get through congress. romney is also ignoring this new campaign ad from president obama.

>> here's my plan for the next four years. making education and training a national priority, building on our manufacturing boom, boosting american-made energy, reducing the deficits by cutting where we can and asking the wealthy to pay a little more, and ending the war in afghanistan to do some nation building here at home. >> president obama is trying to keep romnesia from infecting the american people so he's showing his plan in writing. >> last night i laid out a plan for jobs and middle class security. unlike mitt romney, i'm proud to talk about what's in my plan. because first of all, the math actually adds up. >> the obama campaign is contributing more than 3 million. copies of the plan in swing states. it's strange for mitt romney to pretend that he doesn't have a plan because last night during the foreign policy debate, mitt romney seemed to agree with almost every plan the president has.

>> i congratulate him on taking out osama bin laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda. we don't want another iraq. we don't want another afghanistan. that's not the right course for us. i'd have put the sanctions in place earlier, but it's good we have them. drones are being use and i support that entirely. we're going to be finished by 2014 and when i'm president, weal make sure we bring our troops out by the end of 2014. >> can we come to the conclusion that mitt romney was out of his league in foreign policy in the debate last night? he was reduced to generic talking points and bland platitudes like this claim about an apology tour. >> then the president began what i called an apology tour of going to various nations in the middle east and criticizing america. they looked at that and saw weakness. then where wh there was dissidence in the streets of tehran, the president was silent. >> nothing mitt romney just said was true, starting with the

notion of me apologizing. this has been probably the biggest whopper that's been told during the course of this campaign. and every fact checker and every reporter has looked at it. the governor has said this is not true. >> romney backed off his tough talk on china. suddenly he was the biggest appeaser in the room. >> we can be a partner with china. we don't have to be an adversary, in any way, shape or form. if they are willing to be responsible. >> romney offered no real answers about our presence in this part of the world. i think americans will find this troubling and i'll have more to say about this with sherrod brown later in this broadcast. romney's worst moment of the night came when he tried to attack the president over the military budget. >> we don't know what the world is going to throw at us down the road. we make decisions today in the military that will confront challenges we can't imagine. we have to make decisions based on uncertainty.

and that means a strong military. >> the president's response exposed mitt romney as a lot of hot air. >> governor romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. you mentioned the navy and we have fewer ships than in 1916. governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. we have aircraft carriers. with we have ships that go underwar, nuclear submarines, the question is not a game of battleship. it's what are our capabilities. >> what's the bottom line? the president was telling the country this guy doesn't have a clue when it comes to national security and foreign policy. many people say mitt romney passed the commander in chief after the first debate in denver. last night, he flunked the exam, the final exam big time. get your cell phones out. tonight's question, is mitt romney up to the challenges of commander in chief?

text a for yes and b for no. you can always go to our blog. we have the results coming up later on in this broadcast. joining me tonight is richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst. richard, we have a number of different things that all of a sudden mitt romney agrees with president obama on, but the one most glaring was afghanistan. will this have an impact in the final two weeks? >> well, let's just remember just how much of a back flip-flop he does last night. he's a guy that said no timeline, but he has a timeline without an end e date. suddenly we have an end date. normal candidates do not try and release new policies in debates. we have seen it now in three debates he's tried to do this. it's great that the president throws it out there and tries to point out these changes, last-minute reversals, but more

than that, what we saw last night was bill clinton said strong and wrong, weak and right. last night we had weak and wrong against strong and right. it was the projection of weakness from mitt romney both on the substance and the way he was changing his policy that i think was the hardest piece of him. people don't understand the policy of foreign policy. they do understand character. >> what unfolded earlier in the debate was benghazi. for the last month and a half, we have heard the conservatives say that there's a conspiracy, there was a cover-up, that the administration is not being forthcoming with the american people. romney had a shot, again. why didn't e he take it? >> because he got crushed the week before. he could have relitigated. i expected him to relitigate it. but his strategy, as far as anyone could tell, was to hug the president, one big group session and say i like him only more so.

that's the kind of position you have when you think you are winning this race. you don't want to mess up. it's an incredible reversal because that's where the president was in the first debate. we saw how badly that turned out for him. if you have a three-point lead and that's going to carry you through, you end up doing this kind of stupid tactic and that looks bad because there's no difference between you. >> and romney's camp was spinning last night as a victory for him. what about that? i mean, do they really think the american people are that stupid? >> no, they think the press is that stupid. when the media reports on body language, this is the worst time for any reporter on the campaign trail. there's no events, there's no more news and all you've got is this kind of spin. when the campaign goes out and says we're going to lose, that's news.

>> right wing media is doing a spin job. check out fox news's assessment of his performance. >> was it decisive for you? >> no. he didn't win the debate. >> so he didn't win the debate? >> no. nobody won. it was so boring. it was the most boring debate i have ever seen. >> 59 million people watched it so maybe they thought there was something interesting in there. there was a massive role reversal. for decades republicans have said we are strong on foreign policy. you know where we stand. that was the bush premise. what we saw last night is we have no idea where mitt romney stands. the president, you may disagree with parts of it, but projecting strength, it was a role reversal for democrats. >> i thought he was going to revert back to dick cheney highlight films and say we're not on a war footing. he could have pulled out the old rhetoric and slipped it past a lot of people.

why didn't he take that direction? >> the president doesn't like the whole e politics of fear. i don't know that mitt romney -- when you saw him come up with the details about mali and the terrorist threat in mali or the state of the navy in the first world war, this is a guy who has been cramming on the briefing books and had no real plan. >> richard wolffe, great to have you with us, thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow and on facebook. coming up, with only two weeks remaining, what must they do to win? what do they have to do to win? karen finney and e.j. dionne coming up with the discussion.

coming up, the obama camp shows some confidence when it comes to polling in key swing states. karen finney and e.j. dionne, we have an apology coming from the romney camp tonight. then mitt romney tries to air brush history while the

president lays out the facts on outsourcing and his policies on china. we'll have the details. and later former west wing actor bradley whitford joins me to discuss workers rights in california. share your thoughts on facebook and twitter using #edshow. [ heart beating, monitor beeping ] woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number

that appears on your screen. i found it interesting with a couple weeks until the election, it's amazing how mitt romney would go on the debate stage and basically surrender on foreign policy. it's an interesting tactic of someone who wants to be the leader of the free world.

national polls are close, but the electoral map is not so close. here's the latest nbc news battleground map. the blue states are obama and the red states are solid romney. that's 243 electoral votes for president obama. 206 electoral votes for mitt romney. seven battleground states remain. of the seven, if president obama wins ohio and wisconsin, he goes over the top winning reelection. on a conference call today, obama campaign manager said we are tied or ahead in every battleground state and we're not leaving any state where we're tied or ahead. senior strategist david axelrod said we know what we know. they know what we know. i'm confident we're going to win this race. we'll show who is bluffing and who isn't in two weeks. bring it on. one more thing is certain. president obama is baring down

in the final stretch. >> we're accustomed to seeing politicians change their positions from like four years ago. we're not accustomed to seeing them change from four days ago. >> let's turn to karen finney, msnbc political analyst, and e.j. dionne, msnbc contributor and author of "our divided political heart." karen, you first. what was romney's strategy last night and how poorly was it executed? because it looked to me like a total surrender. it was like go out there, don't make a mistake and let's turn to the next two weeks. what about that? >> every single time schieffer said they were moving on, romney looked so relieved because he seemed like, thank god, this thing is almost over. i'll tell you what i think their strategy was. it was interesting listening to the spin.

his folks were saying he didn't want to fight president obama. she was going to talk about his vision. i think that they've got some numbers back from the second debate that a lot of voters, particularly women voters, did not like how flat out rude he was to the president and some of the behavioral things where he literally, physically seemed like he was trying to bully president obama. and so i think they had some numbers internally that said you better tone it down for the last debate. so i think that's what's more likely what was going on here. >> e.j., are you expecting the romney camp to come out with new commercials that mitt romney agrees with the president on a number of foreign policy issues? there's enough material there for mitt. >> i'm going to imitate romney and say i agree with everything karen just said. i think it is a real challenge to the obama campaign.

i have been watching campaigns for a long time. i don't think i've ever seen a candidate throw so many positions overboard so quickly and also mislead about what his past positions were as he did on the auto bailout. and the obama campaign has to stay on this because clearly they got a last-minute remake going here and they've got prevent that remake from taking hold. i think you saw it in the speech today and you'll keep seeing it. >> we can come to the conclusion that the president has won the last two debates. if you look at mitt romney, his performance has declined over three debates. he started high and took it south from there. does that kind of momentum or does that kind of performance affect the campaign, karen? >> well, look. i think initially they did a good job of taking advantage of the momentum. but i don't think they'll have enough road, there's only two

weeks, to convince voters that he's this newfangled person. they are saying, wait a second. i was on the call. and one of the points these guys made that i thought was very important is we're not talking about the increases in voter registration numbers. republicans are betting on lower turnout from african-american and latino voters and there are eight million more registered latino voters this cycle than four years ago. so that's a silly assumption for them to be making. they are making a lot of false assumptions. you look at where the president is ahead in early voting, he's ahead of his own record. so i think the story is president obama has real momentum in the early vote period. >> and of course, on that conference call, jim maine see na said every single day now is election day. as you mentioned in that early voting in ohio and wisconsin and

iowa is also very strong, e.j., is that going to be enough? is this a sign of momentum that's going to carry through for president obama? what do you think? >> first of all, i think there's a big debate out there who has the momentum. i think romney had it after the first debate and started losing it after the second. but what karen said is important. african-american and latino turnout is going to be a very big deal, which also means that voter suppression efforts on election day are going to be a very big deal. and i think looking ahead, if you are in the obama campaign or in a civil rights group, being ready for what could be a difficult election day is one of the things that should be right at the top of their to do list. >> this just into us. you may have seen this video of romney and president obama talking on the stage after the debate last night. we are told that tag apologized for saying that he wanted to

take a swing at the president during their second debate. he told a north carolina right wing talk show host when he asked how he felt when the president was calling his dad a liar on stage. he said he wanted to go down and take a swing at him. the apology came last night. dad was standing there and heard it. was it it overdue? >> it was overdue, and my mother said you don't get points for doing what you're supposed to do. it's great he apologized, but he shouldn't have said it it in the first place and of course, he should have apologized. >> was that dad talking right there? >> good for him for apologizing, although you shouldn't do stuff you have to apologize for, but he's on message. he's the kinder, gentler mitt romney. you saw it in that apology after. they do have message discipline. >> i do believe in apologies. i would say that tag romney did

the right thing last night. karen finney, e.j. dionne, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. coming up, the most intense issue of the debate. romney goes on the defensive. find out what got both candidates just so revved up. and it all comes down to the buckeye state, ohio. who is going to win this state? ohio state senator nina turner will weigh in on a number of different issues. stay with us. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc.

governor romney, you keep on trying to air brush history. >> welcome back to "the ed show." one of the most contentious topics from last night's debate strikes at the heart of what this election is about for workers. the candidates clashed over shipping jobs to china. romney is good at that. the the moderator asked romney if threatening china could ignite a trade war. >> they sell us about this much stuff every year. and we sell them about this much stuff every year. it's pretty clear who doesn't want a trade war. there's one going on right now, which we don't know about. and they are winning. >> romney likes to whine about china, but the president didn't let him get away with it. >> governor romney is right. you are familiar with jobs being shipped overseas because you invested in companies shipping jobs overseas. >> romney wants to label china a currency manipulator.

but under president obama, exports have doubled. e he created a trade enforcement task force to prosecute china for cheating. he's also building regional relationships to pressure china to play fair. and there's one other trade policy the president reminded romney about last night. >> if we had taken your advice about the auto industry, we would be buying cars from china instead of selling cars to china. >> romney wrote the op-ed indicating the automobile industry should go bankrupt. he said we could, quote, kiss the automobile industry good-bye if it got government stimulus money and government assistance." now the industry is thriving. romney claims he supported the auto rescue all along. >> i said they need these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy and in that process they can get government help. >> that's not what you said.

>> you can take a look at the op-ed. >> you did not say you would provide government help. >> i said we would provide guarantees and that's what was able to allow the companies to go through bankruptcy and come out of bankruptcy under no circumstances would i do anything other than to help this industry get on its feet. the idea has been suggested i would liquidate the industry. >> let's check the record. >> i want to keep the industry going and thriving. >> there were no private equity markets available at the time. the economy was that bad. there were no takers there weren't mitt romneys around willing to take 10 cents on a dollar. what's a guarantee if there's no cash? it takes money to buy whiskey, doesn't it? the people in detroit don't forget. auto workers accuse the battleground state of ohio, i don't think they are going to forget either.

let's turn to senator sherrod brown of ohio. great to have you with us tonight. >> good to be back. >> this is mitt romney trying to reinvent himself on the automobile loan, which of course, was risky business politically for the president. is romney's stance on this auto industry hurting him in ohio or helping him? >> it's the primary reason that romney just can't get traction in this state. i'm talking to you from cleveland. it's northeast ohio, but all of ohio. we're an auto state. we're a food processing state. we're a medical device state. but we know what this meant to ohio. look at it this way. our unemployment rate in ohio, at the time the auto rescue took hold was 10.5%. today it's down to 7%. that's not good enough, but it's auto rescue, it's enforcement and trade rules. we have a new steel mill in youngstown. we have tires in finley. the president mentioned that

last night. our state is on the move in part because manufacturing is coming back. that's led -- always led by auto. when manufacturing grows, it's usually auto-led when the economy comes back. i remember those days well in late 2008. the republicans supported it in ohio. then in 2009, it was an unpopular vote but we knew we had to do it. president obama took a big political risk. we knew we had to do it. the state is doing a lot better because of it. >> there were no sheldon adelsons around to write the check. there were no private equity markets, correct? >> yeah, that's what's so bogus. my opponent called me un-american for voting it. whatever his thinking is there. but if we had not done the structured bankruptcy and taxpayer investments in the auto industry, nobody else was stepping up. it was too high risk. no billionaires, no hedge fund

companies, no investors wanted to put big money in the auto industry because it was billions of dollars and the risks were too high. there were better places to put your money than in this industry. so it had to be done. you can argue around the edges, but this made a huge -- this state right here would have been in a depression, but it's now seen an unemployment rate drop 3.5%. it's going in the right direction. >> why is romney doing this? is he doing it because he's just in trouble with, you know, white workers in ohio and the lunch bucket democrats out there paying attention? >> i don't know. i don't know why he was against it. his dad was a car guy. i don't know what goes into romney's positions on anything. they kind of move back and forth. i know it took courage on the president's part. it took bipartisanship. this was a great example of what you should do.

it was bipartisan. it was the public and government working with the private sector and it was all about the middle class. we did all of those things and that's why we have seen for the first time in ten years, we have seen manufacturing job growth almost every month for the last two years. 500,000 new manufacturing jobs grown in this country. >> does the president win on china issues in ohio? >> the president wins on china because he's been the most aggressive in enforcing trade rules. he's been more aggressive in enforcing trade rules than any president since reagan. steel jobs in cleveland and lorraine, i could point all over the state because we enforce trade rules. we need to stop the tax breaks for outsourcing jobs to china and mexico and anywhere else. we know what we have to do. we need congress to do it and work with the president and make it happen. but enforcing trade rules one at a time actually does work and you can specifically attribute job growth to it.

>> well, we did this broadcast on friday night from illinois. there's a plant that's being shipped overseas sensata, which is connected to the automobile industry. and there's a tire plant that's been saved because of president obama's stance being tough on china with the lawsuit. i think that that story speaks volumes of what is happening across america. just who is talking tough. senator, great to have you with us. >> i saw that show. it was a microcosm of what we're talking about. >> senator sherrod brown, thank you. there's much more coming up, stay with us. there's no more serious issue in a presidential campaign than trust. trust matters. >> the president and the vice president are heating up in ohio. tonight the latest on the republican voter suppression with state senator nina turner. in wisconsin, tommy thompson

airs one of the most disgraceful ads you'll ever see. we'll bring you the latest attack on tammie baldwin. >> and bradley whitford is hitting the stump for the. . he joins me live on "the ed show." hi, i'm amy for downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters, here with my favorite new intern, jimmy. mmm! fresh! and it's been in the closet for 12 weeks! unbelievable! unstopables! i'll show you how! ♪ just shake them into the washer i can't believe this lasts 12 weeks! neither can they. so you're going on tour to prove it. downy unstopables. follow jimmy's unstopables tour on youtube.

two weeks from today, americans all across the country will step into the voting booth. but here in ohio, you can vote early. here in ohio you can vote right after this event. >> and it does all boil down to ohio. we are back. both candidates need the buckeye state to win and the money just keeps on pouring in. ohio has now surpassed florida as the state that's seen the most money spent on the

election. $177 million has been funneled into the state for advertising. the obama campaign's ground game is also out in full force and encouraging early voting is the key. in ohio about 20% of the vote has already been cast and the president is leading mung early voters by double digits. polling from quinnipiac shows 54% for obama. yet right wingers are doing everything they can to intimidate voters. billboards from an anonymous group were put up in minority communities in ohio and wisconsin warning, quote, voter fraud is a felony. voter fraud is a nonexistent problem and after the public outcry, the billboards are now being taken down. clear channel outdoor advertising rendered the billboard space. the company says they have decided to take down the billboards because they violate company policy against anonymous political ads.

they will donate ten billboards that offer a countermessage clarifying that voting is a right and not a crime. joining me is nina turner. senator, you view this how? is this a victory for the people? or could these counterbillboards have helped in any way? >> certainly the damage has been done and clear channel should have never allowed them to go up in the first place, but the fact we stood up and fought here in the city of cleveland and across ohio, it says a lot. the fact that all the billboards are coming down, about 150 of them across the country, is a big deal. the folks who put up the billboards were cowards to target minority communities. but we're not going to let that stop us from getting out the vote. >> what with you hearing? were they having an effect? was there conversation and confusion about voter fraud? >> people were very concerned.

as you can imagine, in some of the the communities, there are ex-offenders that live in those communities. but in ohio, if you are an ex-offender and you're registered to vote, you can vote. so the fact they would put a message out like that is deplorable. it makes no sense. they are out to get folks that don't exist. voter fraud is nearly nonexistent and they know it. but they will do any rotten thing to try to suppress the vote. especially among those most likely to vote for obama. and everyone in this country should be upset that anybody would do that and then not to have the courage to put your name behind it, shameful. >> senator, if the election were held today, would president obama win ohio? where's the enthusiasm and what are you hearing? >> i believe that he e would. and he will. we delivered ohio to the president by 51% of the vote in 2008 and we will do it again.

citizens of this state understand that the governor romney is a shape shifter. you never know from day-to-day what he believes and what e he will say. it's good if you play doe, but not if you want to be leader of the united states. the women in the state are going to be the firewall in the state of ohio. we are forced of nature and we understand that the president has our back. we understand that the president believes that e we need to make dollar for dollar. that the children that we support want their mothers to make dollar for dollar. i'm going to tell you something. i don't know any man who doesn't want his wife to bring home that whole dollar that helps the entire family and the president believes in that. the auto workers understand who was out there trying to save those middle class jobs. it was the president and senator sherrod brown. we're going to have the president's back in ohio. we are ready. >> there's a story that is circulating in the progressive

community that has a lot of people concerned. reports that tag romney, son of the candidate, has a financial interest in the voting machines, some of them that are in ohio and it's been reported he has financial interest in the voting machines in hamilton county. what's your response to this and are you concerned about it? >> just slightly. i mean there is an appearance here of impropriority, but the tangled web is so tangled it's hard to explain. the fact that tag romney's company has a business relationship with a company that has a partial ownership in a company called heart inner civics and that the board members of this poll machine company -- excuse me voting machine company made donations to the campaign, folks should be a little concerned. it does appear to be kind of

shady, but the fact that there are professionals on the ground, the voting machines used in the state of ohio are approved by a body here that contains both democrats and republicans. so we have to continue to fight the real voter suppression going on in the state. >> nina turner, always great to have you on "the ed show." thanks so much. the wisconsin senate race. folks, it gets ugly. with former governor tommy thompson releasing an attack ad so despicable you won't see it on our air. stay with us.

up next, you won't believe tommy thompson's latest attack. and in the big finish, bradley whitford will join me to discuss his support for president obama and much more. stay with us.

just how desperate can candidates get? well, the wisconsin senate race took a turn for the ugly today when former governor tommy thompson releasing an attack ad so despicable we're not going to show it on this program. it accuses tammie baldwin of voting against honoring the victims of 9/11. military victims speak over images of waving flags and the ruins of the world trade center. then comes this headline from the capital times. baldwin rejects 9/11 tribute. as factcheck.org points out, it fails to include the sub header. she's cast one of 22 "no" votes. republicans crafted a memorial resolution that also paid tribute to controversial republican legislation like the

patriot act. so democrats had a choice. vote for a resolution praising legislation they oppose or vote against it and be painted as unpatriotic. it was a trap set six years ago. baldwin said at the time and she was very clear "on the the fifth anniversary of the worst attack on american soil, my republican colleagues have politicized what should have been a solemn and sincere resolution. this bill was transformed from a memorial resolution to an endorsement of president bush's failed policies. the republicans showed disrespect to 9/11 victims by playing politics with something as solemn as the fifth anniversary of 9/11. to the record, and to keep it straight, tammy baldwin has supported nine resolutions honoring victims of 9/11. tommy thompson is just the latest republican playing

politics with the tragedy of 9/11. but what do you expect from a former bush administration official? it's dishonest, disrespectful, and i hope the people of wisconsin hold him accountable. tonight in our survey, i asked you, is mitt romney up to the challenges of commander-in-chief? 2% said yes. 98% said no. we're two weeks out election day and celebrities are jumping in to help. brad whitford has been out stumping for the president. we're talking to him next here on "the ed show." stay with us. at some point in the many lives of a dollar

it will be a dollar saved by somebody who switched to esurance.

like, dollar karma. being online, esurance saves dollars that come back as more dollars for you. esurance. now backed by allstate. click or call. you can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for women and immigrants and gays or you can say in this election we believe that everybody's got a place in america. we want to make sure everybody's got opportunity no matter who you are. i'm asking you to help me finish the job. i believe in you and i need you to keep believing in me. >> and in the big finish tonight, a couple weeks out, stakes couldn't be higher. celebrities are joining the fight to help reelection president obama. our next guest is democratic activist brad whitford. he's been traveling around the country stumping for president obama and ohio senator sherrod brown. he's also been vocal on two ballot issues in his home state

of california. the first measure is great for teachers and students. prop 30 would provide $9 billion to fund public education in the the state of california. meanwhile, the other measure is right out of scott walker's play book. it's prop 32. that would stop unions from donating to political campaigns. democrats are worried about voter turnout because the commanding lead could be a problem for him. so whitford teamed up with the courage campaign to inform voters with this video. >> this year the gop wants to pass one initiative. prop 32 would basically allow huge corporations to dominate state elections wild leaving middle class californians in the dust. >> the gop wants to crush prop 30, an initiative to save our public schools from budget cuts. >> vote yes on 30, these guys will have their way with california.

>> it sounds creep write. >> i'm joined by brad whitford. good to have you on "the ed show." you're on a mission. let's talk about your support for president obama and sherrod brown. is it connected to workers rights? >> yes, it is connected to workers rights. it's connected to the extremist attack on unions, on the middle class. i was also in wisconsin with my son campaigning for tammy. i saw those billboards. i saw the ad that tommy put out. these are not your parent's republicans. they make nixon look like abbi hoffman. >> you had harsh words for carl rove in ohio. what do you think of his ad barrage against senator brown? >> i think carl rove is a coward who enjoys pouring money -- you

know, i think he has targeted labor in ohio, in wisconsin to some extent in michigan because e he wants to cut the head off of labor and they are not going to let him do it. >> this is in an effort to get rid of the last democrat support and foundation because of the social networking and also the boots on the ground that labor unions have provided. what are you hearing? what's your sense in ohio? >> my sense in ohio, i felt very confident that sherrod is in a very good position. i think the president is in a good position. i think we can take nothing for granted and have to run through that finish line and get out the vote. people are voting early and the

democrats just have to stay focused and i think we're going to have a good result. >> the republicans clearly have attacked public education. what are the chances of prop 32 getting money into public education in california? are you confident it will pass? >> you mean prop 30? >> yes. >> yeah. i do believe -- prop 30 has been endorsed by "the l.a. times." it is a perfectly reasonable investment that our least vulnerable citizens need to do to invest in our most vulnerable citizens. i'm confident it will pass. but again, we need turnout there. we need turnout in michigan. i'm up here campaigning for bridgette mary mccormick running for state supreme court. but we need turnout in